Many of you know that pizza making in our house is a religion. I am the designer, Chip is the creator. We make our own sauce, buy only the freshest ingredients from local businesses and, of course, make our own dough.

Yes, it is dedication coupled with a desire for perfection to make your own dough.

• Perfect ingredients, thank you King Arthur
• Measuring with precision
• Mixing at the right speed
• Kneading for 10 minutes

Making pizza dough is time consuming and somewhat boring but dangerous? Not usually. Sadly, this time it went a little sideways, let me explain.

This was a busy weekend. We finished decorating the house and setting up the balance of the nine artificial trees. On Saturday, we braved the elements and cut down the remaining three live trees needed to complete the picture. That was a sight with just the two of us and so sad without the kids. Yet no damage to any body parts.

Sunday afternoon, we were multitasking like any good Italian couple. My mother was coming over for pizza dinner Sunday night. The sauce was on a low simmer and the smell filled the house. We had the oven on and ready for the homemade oatmeal cookies. The batter was full of oats and golden raisins….yum.

The last thing we needed to do was the pizza dough.

It was going so well and as I have described in the past, Chip and I working in the kitchen is like a dance. We move about and intertwine, and it just works. Christmas music was playing, the looming 14-foot Alpine fir glowing from the family room and the kitchen tree illuminated full of cooking and kitchen ornaments. I was cleaning up the flour and utensils so that Chip could knead the dough for the required 10 minutes of muscle necessary to complete the process.

I had the oiled bowl ready to house the dough for rising. All Italians have a bowl like this. It can be used for mixing meatball ingredients, tossing the perfect salad, or holding the warm kneaded dough under an old towel to rise. The bowl weighs at least 2 pounds and that beautiful round ‘cooley-like” dough ball was about 5-6 pounds, as any self-respecting Italian would make.

Chip was pooped from the dough workout and “spiked “ the dough into the bowl with such enthusiasm and gusto that the velocity of the bowl and dough slammed down onto my poor pinky. The pinch between bowl and granite counter top had no give and my pinky took the brunt with a crack.

Off to the Urgent Care. Chip is quiet on the drive and feeling just awful. I am thinking to myself, “How do I explain this one to an ER doc?” It was cut and dry after the x-rays. Hairline fracture. Follow up with the orthopedic doctor and keep a splint on and immobilize for 4 weeks.

P.S. The Orthopedic doctor was hysterical this morning. Yes, a break with a contusion topped off with slight temporary nerve damage causing the pain. He said bring pizza next time and he will give me a discount. I left with a dandy new splint.

Poor Chip is hurting more than I am. Yes, he broke my finger with pizza dough.

How do I feel about this you ask? First thought was, “Oh my gosh, can I iron my hair?”  Because that would truly be painful. Then came to mind the real questions:

• Can I spin, Zumba, and Combat with this? Why do I doubt myself? I did Combat this morning at 5:30am and it wasn’t pretty, but I did it. We will see how Body Pump goes tomorrow.
• Can I milk a Hallmark Channel marathon out of this? Oh, hell yes. Chip’s guilt should buy me at least 6 hours of Hallmark movies.
• Hey- can’t wash dishes, fold laundry or clean. Ok, things are looking up.
• Gift wrapping with 9 fingers? I think not. Gift bags for everyone!
• Guilt gift? Yup, I think there is a Porsche dealer nearby. Can you say, “zoom-zoom”?

Moral of the story? Pizza is a dangerous business. Let’s be careful.

It’s only funny until …